“I don’t understand why you waste our powers like that bro.” Lee said, as he pounded down his fourth power bar for the day.
“I just think I’m strong enough without having to bulk up. I mean, I’m not as strong as you or grandpa, but I’m still stronger than most of the guys we fight. And I am quicker.” Cal replied. “And smarter.” He added, after a moment’s thought.
“And cuter.” Michelle, codenamed Ossuary, said, as she entered the kitchen, wrapping her arm around her boyfriend’s waist.
“Too bad you don’t have a girlfriend to take your side on this one, hey bro?” Cal laughed.
“I have lots, just none of them are allowed in the HQ.” Lee spluttered.
“Sure.” Michelle laughed.
“I believe you. Otherwise the amount of time you spend clubbing would be kind of pathetic.” Cal said.
“It’s just, ever since Lexi and me broke up, I don’t want to settle down. I mean, we got together kind of young, and I can drink now.” Lee said.
“Of course. I really wish you guys had run that by me first though. If I’d known I’d have to pick up another team member to replace Psyke, I could have done some scouting.” Cal said. “Not that this Red Streak kid seems like a bad choice.”
“Sounds like he should be on the Teen Dream Team.” Lee smirked.
“Would that be the same Teen Dream Team that contains Cobalt, who showed you up in the Shadow Plane?” Cal teased.
Lee scowled at his brother but before he could think of a comeback, a siren began to ring throughout the complex.
“Well, looks like that’s our cue. I wonder what’s going on.”Cal said.
<><><>
Adrienne threw her phone into the wall, before engulfing it with water, short-circuiting it.
“Go away!” She shouted at the knocking on her door.
Regardless of her protests, the door opened, and Jesse stuck his head in. “Boyfriend troubles?” He asked.
Moments later, his head was soaked. “I told you to go away.” Adrienne warned. “And he’s not my boyfriend, I was just using him.”
“And he got wise?” Her size-changing teammate asked.
“He decided his girlfriend was better.” Adrienne said, before sitting down on her bed, cradling her head in her hands, and beginning to sob.
“Oh. Tough break.” Jesse said, unsure of what to do. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than the siren began to ring throughout Hire-A-Hero headquarters.
“Guess we’ve got a job.”Jesse shrugged.
<><><>
Five minutes later, the team were in their uniforms and in the briefing room, Mr Hart, the chairman of Hire-A-Hero LA standing in front of the big screen.
“Well, what’s going on sir?” Cal Richards asked.
“Twenty-five minutes ago, Gauss broke out of Alcatraz. Five minutes later, The West Coast Boomers were on their way to San Francisco, as were all the solo heroes from this branch.” Mr Hart began.
“And we’re still here? After Guantanamo Bay, shouldn’t we have all hands on deck?” Epic asked.
“Richards, quiet the child down.” Hart ordered. “No. We keep someone in reserve at all times. Because there is never just one crisis. Case in point.” Hart pointed at the screen, which changed to grainy security footage. “West 7th Street, Los Angeles. Seven minutes ago.”
The young heroes watched in shock, as Gauss dropped another car to its doom, cackling with glee. “We have to stop him.” Epic said.
“We can’t.” Cal shook his head. “He controls magnetism. Lee and I are useless, not to mention the amount of metal in all our costumes… What’s this really about sir?”
“Castor and Pollux are in San Diego. They’re on a rampage, tearing up every bank and jeweller in their path. We were hired by San Diego County to stop them. There are two choppers on the roof waiting to take you to the airport. Good luck.” With that, Mr Hart left the room.
“Castor and Pollux? We’re doomed.” Epic said.
<><><>
“The plan is pretty simple.” Cal said, as he gestured over the map. “At their current trajectory, by the time we’ve reached them, Castor and Pollux will be at the Chase Bank on Broadway here.” Cal pointed at the map. “Across 7th street is a tall building, I want Bravo Team to hole up somewhere between the fourth and sixth floors, with a window that can at least see the street directly in front of the bank. That’s where Alpha Team will be doing most of the fighting. Charlie Team will be directly across Broadway from the bank, and will be laying covering fire on us. Red Streak, you’ll be in reserve, it’s your first mission, I don’t want anything to go wrong, and so you’ll be on the roof with Charlie Team.” Red Streak nodded, his ginger curls shaking in time. “I trust the rest of you know your team placements by now?” The rest of the team nodded. “Link is in charge of Bravo Team, and Ossuary is in charge of Charlie, naturally I’m in charge of Alpha. Link will keep us connected, so any order from Link or Ossuary may as well be directly from me.”
“We know Cal, it’s hardly our first mission.” AV said.
“It’s the first time we’ve fought anyone this strong without Captain Awesome or the Brats backing us up. I can’t afford to assume anything.” Cal said.
“Ok, what’s the deal with their powers? I was in junior high when they got arrested.” Tide asked.
“More like elementary school.” Iaso muttered.
“You’re right. It was seven years ago, so we pulled the official file. Castor is the one in the armour, Pollux is the other one. They’re twin brothers, but somehow have different fathers. Pollux got superpowers and stole that power armour for Castor. Now Castor might actually be stronger. They’re both about as strong as Lee, which puts us at a disadvantage straight away, because there’s only one of him. They’re bulletproof, so Crackshot’s going to have to start using his trick bullets. Pollux has super-speed too, around the level of Wolf Spider, slightly slower than Red Streak here. Castor can fly, and he has energy blasts, so all teams need to keep an eye on him. Team Bravo, you’ll be firing on Pollux, keep him switching directions so he can’t use his super-speed, which will make him a prime target for Lee. Epic and I will be taking Castor, though I will call in support from Bravo if we need it. Any questions?” Cal looked at his team expectantly.
“Yeah.” Epic said. “Why couldn’t we go fight the prisoners at Alcatraz instead of Captain Awesome? It’d be a fair fight for him. We’re doomed.”
“We make do with what we have. We’re the only option here. I’m going to need you all on your best game today. We can pull this off.” Cal said.
“These guys beat the Boomers in Cuba, and then beat the West Coast Boomers again like, a month ago.” Epic argued. “This is suicide.”
“Then you’d better go down fighting, because I don’t expect any less from all of you.” Cal said.
Epic sighed. “Yes sir.”
<><><>
“Alright bro, we’re done here. Where to now?” Pollux asked, hefting the bags of money.
“There’s a jewellery store down the street. Let’s get us some diamonds.” Castor replied, nodding towards the door. “You go first. I’m gonna level this place.”
Pollux laughed, as he headed for the door. “You got it bro.”
Castor’s hand-mounted energy blaster began to hum, as the bank tellers began to pray.
“Uh bro.” Pollux shouted from outside. “I think you might want to save that…”
“What?” Castor demanded, as he spun to look out the front window of the bank. “Oh. We have company.”
Standing directly in front of Pollux were the Richards Brothers in their steel forms, and standing at around ten feet tall was Epic.
“Castor and Pollux, we have been granted permission from the Californian Government to place you under arrest.” Cal Richards said.
“Oh really?” Castor asked, as he exited the bank. “You and what army?”
“This one, jackass.” Lee said, as he gestured at the rooftop behind him, where seven of his teammates were standing.
“You idiot.” Epic said, as Castor laughed, pointing his blaster at the rooftop.
“Swear to god…” Cal muttered, as he charged at Castor, but he was too late, the air sizzled as the supervillain unleashed his energy blast at the assembled heroes.
The rooftop exploded, sending debris and dust into the air. “Son of a bitch!” Lee shouted, as he charged at Pollux, catching the faster supervillain by surprise.
”Link?” Cal thought, as he traded blows with Castor.
”They’re ok. Melchior had a shield up.” Link’s voice was in his head.
”Give Michelle the order to open fire.” Cal thought back.
”Got it.” Link thought.
“Epic! Back up!” Cal ordered.
“Yes sir.” Epic gladly took a few steps backwards.
“What the fu-“ Pollux was cut off, as he took a high-pressure jet of water to the face which was closely followed by a shower of bone fragments and a series of explosions.
“There’s no way!” Castor shouted, as he too was hit with attacks from above, this time a blast of pure light energy to the chest and a bullet that released a thick viscous liquid that covered his visor, filling his entire field of vision, completely blinding him.
”Tell them to switch to containment. I only want them firing if they try to escape.” Cal ordered.
”You got it.” Link said.
“Epic, help me out. Lee, keep Pollux busy.” Cal shouted.
“Uhh…” Epic hesitated.
Castor laughed, as he broke free of Cal, sailing into the air, as he wiped the fluid from his visor.
“Get him back down here!” Cal shouted.
“I… But…” Epic stammered.
“Goddamn it!” Cal roared. “Fuse! Fastball!”
“Already working on it!” Fuse shouted from the rooftop, as she pitched an energy ball the size of a softball at Castor.
The resulting explosion engulfed Castor, the fireball extending more than ten yards in every direction, scorching the buildings around them.
“So you’re their heavy hitter?” Castor asked, as he rocketed through the flames, snatching Fuse from the rooftop.
“Hold your fire!” Cal ordered.
“Tell your brother to stop wailing on mine too.” Castor said. “Or the girl gets it. And the giant wuss can shrink back down.”
“You heard him.” Cal said. “Stand down.”
Reluctantly, Lee let go of Pollux, and Epic shrank back down to normal.
“Now, I’m going to keep hold of this girl until we’re long gone. Just to keep you from doing anything.” Castor said.
“She’s kind of cute bro, we should probably have a little fun with her too.” Pollux laughed.
“Way ahead of you bro.” Castor said, groping Fuse, as the teen whimpered in his grasp.
“NO!” Epic shouted, instantaneously growing to gigantic proportions and back, sending himself sailing through the air, directly at Castor, grabbing the startled villain around the head, twisting himself around so he was hanging behind him.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing boy?” Castor asked.
“Testing the upper limit of your flight capabilities.” Epic said, as he began to grow.
“You idiot. You’re only going to kill yourself.” Castor said. “I can survive the fall.”
“I’m counting on it.” Epic said, as they started to drop.
Epic hit the ground hard, screaming as he felt his legs shatter, but he clung to Castor, bringing the flying villain down hard on his back, protecting Fuse from the fall, while still sending enough of a shock through Castor to make him let go.
Fuse was up and running seconds before Cal Richards came crashing through, tackling Castor before he could get back to his feet properly.
”Link! Epic needs Iaso now!” Cal thought, as he watched Epic shrink back down, as he drifted in and out of consciousness.
”On our way.” Link’s voice buzzed.
Moments later, LatX slingshotted himself and Iaso from their vantage point, wrapping himself around the healer to protect her from the impact.
They landed next to Epic, and Iaso wasted no time laying her hands on his broken legs. “One of these days, I’m going to be the one saving you.” Epic laughed weakly.
“Sure you are.” Iaso smiled, as she used her powers to heal his wounds.
“Pollux! Get the healer!” Castor ordered, as he wrestled on the ground with Cal Richards.
“You got it bro!” Pollux hit Lee with a haymaker, stunning the powerhouse, before charging towards Iaso.
He stopped short, when he found Epic towering over him. “I hesitated once. You’re not going to get her.” He said, cracking his knuckles.
“Kid, get out of my way before I throw you.” Pollux said. “In fact, I just might.” The villain advanced on the goliath.
“Not on my watch. Red Streak! Plan B!” Cal shouted, as he held Castor back.
“You got it Cal!” Red Streak called, using his powers to create a forcefield in front of his face.
“What? What’s Plan B?” Epic asked. “What does he even do?”
Red Streak rushed forward, faster than any normal man could, faster than most race cars. He hit the ground running, and was just sort of the sound barrier when he drove his forcefield directly into Pollux’s face, sending the villain tumbling through the window of the store nearest him.
“LatX! Get her out of here!” Epic yelled, and LatX wasted no time obeying, grabbing Iaso and slingshotting the two to a rooftop.
Castor elbowed Cal in the face, breaking the hero’s grip, before taking off into the air. “As fun as this has been kids, I think it’s time my brother and I split.”
“Not on my watch.” Cal said.
“I think it will be.” Castor’s blaster began to hum again.
“Someone stop him!” Cal ordered, but he was too late. The air sizzled, as Castor fired into the side of a nearby building, disintegrating a sizeable chunk out of three storeys.
“So your choice is to stop us, or evacuate that building. What’s it going to be?” Castor asked.
“You’re insane.” Cal said, as he stared up at the villain.
“No, I’m just a man who knows how to get what he wants.” Castor said. “Better hurry, that building is burning pretty fast.”
Cal cast one more glare towards Castor, before giving the order. “Fall back. We need to save those people.”
<><><>
“You had your orders boy. You were to stop Castor and Pollux. You had the warrant for their arrest.” Mr Hart said. “The city has firefighters trained for rescue. You could have stopped them.”
“We were stalling. You knew we had no chance out there. The best we could do was slow them down until Captain Awesome was available again, so you could hire him to the city too.” Cal said.
“And he would have completed the contract. You disobeyed orders. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Mr Hart said.
“But sir-“
“Never again.”
“Yes sir.”
“Maggie, what did I tell you about fighting on the beach?” Don asked, as he pointed out the rust spots on Talon’s arm and leg.
“I was too busy building the best team of heroes in the world today to oil these damn things. It slipped my mind.” Talon argued.
“Well, if these had gotten any worse, you’d have been a cripple again… Seriously, you were this close to having the joints lock up.”
“How long will it take to fix?”
“To fix? Weeks.”
Talon was taken aback. “Weeks? I’d have to be off the street for weeks? You do realise I’m the leader of the East Coast Boomers, right?”
“Nobody understands that better than I do.” Don replied. For over a decade, Don had led the West Coast Boomers as ‘The Junker’. “Which is why I made a spare set.” Don smiled.
“Did you really have to lecture me about maintenance then?” Talon took a friendly swing at her friend.
“Yes. Do you remember that guy who put together a Junker suit from my spare parts?”
“Of course I do. He stole my name.”
“Yeah. ‘Magpie’. Because he stole shiny things. That jackass gave us grief for years. I don’t want some psycho replacing his arm and leg with my tech. Looks bad when it comes to staff evaluation time.” Don had retired from the superhero game in 2008, handing the leadership of the West Coast Boomers to GL and taking a government contract, designing the new Patriot Armour. In his spare time, he still took time to help his old friends.
Talon was about to make a reply, when her pager began beeping.
“Crap. How quick can you get me hooked up to the spares?” She asked.
“By the time Nymphette gets here from her shoot at the Statue of Liberty, that’s for sure.” Don replied.
<><><>
“That’s it baby, loving it, loving it.” The photographer said, as the flashbulbs went off.
His subject was Maxim’s Hottest Superhero two years running, The Mistress of Moisture, the Angel of Aquakinesis, Nymphette. They were working on a series of promotional pictures for the New York City Chamber of Commerce. She’d already been photographed at the Empire State Building, and would be at the Brooklyn Bridge the next day.
“How much longer?” Nymphette asked, as she pouted and posed for the camera.
“Not much longer. The camera loves you. Every shot is perfect.” The photographer flattered her, as he kept snapping.
Nymphette’s pager began to beep. “Good thing then. We’re going to have to cut this one a little short babe.” Nymphette said, pulling the pager from her purse. “Gotta go save the world.”
<><><>
Thunderbolt swung his hammer one last time, cleaving the huge funnel of the tornado in two. The storm began to dissipate almost instantaneously, the magic of Mjolnir completing the job begun by the broken twister.
He touched down and began surveying the damage. Calhoun, Kentucky was a small town, but the tornado had torn up a lot of buildings. It was going to be a long afternoon’s work.
The locals began crowding around him, cheering as he began piling wrecked cars together, clearing the streets for the support crews that would be arriving within hours.
He cursed as his beeper went off. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Duty calls.”
Thunder cracked in the distance, as Thunderbolt took off into the air.
<><><>
“And if we isolate this strain right here, we could just cure the common cold.” Dr Eugene Phillips, better known to the world as The Freak, said.
“Assuming it works in humans, of course.” His new lab partner, Dr Peter Ulrich, The Gibbon, said, as he swirled the contents of his test tube.
Since they had found themselves team-mates earlier in the week, the two had discovered they had something in common, both men were biologists. They had bonded quickly, and were already putting their headquarters’ laboratories to good use.
“We’re not even sure it works on mice yet.” Dr Phillips laughed.
“We’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.” Dr Ulrich replied.
Both men’s pagers began beeping.
“Or not.” Dr Ulrich muttered.
<><><>
Hannah stared at her phone, wondering why her boyfriend hadn’t called yet. She hadn’t heard from him in days, ever since the day of the press conference. What was that boy up to?
She jumped as she heard a beeping noise, seizing her phone in excitement. Her face fell, as she realised it was her pager going off instead.
“I guess I’d better go answer this instead.” She said. “I’d better find a missed call when I get back.”
<><><>
“The computer picked this up off a police radio band in Queens. Extreme is destroying everything within a two-mile radius.” Talon said.
“Then what are we waiting for? It’s Boom Time!” Nymphette said.
“Worst catchphrase ever.” Hyper Girl said.
“Don’t start.” The Gibbon said.
“We need a plan. She’s strong.” Talon said.
“And we’ve got Thunderbolt. What’s the problem?” Nymphette asked.
“I must agree Maggie.” The Freak said. “Surely Thunderbolt is her equal, at the very least.”
Talon sighed. “Ok, let’s go. Thunderbolt is to engage her head on, the rest of us are to contain the damage she’s caused, and to stop anymore.”
“You’ve got it.” Thunderbolt said, hefting Mjolnir. “What should I expect?”
“Extreme is strong, fast and super hot.” Nymphette said. “Like, literally. She can control temperature. And she’s got a quick healing factor. We fought her on the West Coast a bunch of times.”
“But UNLEASHED got the capture.” Hyper Girl added. “I saw it on the news.”
“Hey, when we’re putting Radon back in his nursing home, we’ll talk to you babe, but until then, the big kids are talking.” Nymphette snapped.
“What about the Order of Darkness? Got any tips for them? How about Constellation? Because I fought both. What have you guys got going on the West Coast that even compares to the guys we fight over here?” Hyper Girl shouted.
“Girls, can we deal with this crap later? We’ve got a supervillain to deal with, remember?” The Gibbon asked.
“She started it.” Nymphette pouted.
“Shut up Jasmine.” Talon ordered. “We’ll deal with Extreme, then worry about the catfight.”
<><><>
The Sonic Boom II hovered above the carnage, sitting just below the cloud of smoke that was building above the city, as homes and businesses burned below.
“Ok, Nymphette, hit the fires. Hyper Girl and Gibbon, you’re with me, we’re saving people from debris and just generally keeping the civilians safe. Freak, I need you inside buildings, there are bound to be people inside. Thunderbolt, just go do what you do.” Talon issued her orders.
The bottom of the jet opened, and Thunderbolt leapt out, landing on the ground with a loud crash, right next to Extreme.
The villainess was beautiful, her black leather outfit barely covering her curvy body, a wicked smile adorning her full lips. “And who the hell are you supposed to be?” She asked, turning her attention to the hero.
“Thunderbolt.” He said simply, as he swung a fist at her face.
Extreme dodged out of the way with ease. “Oh. Big, dumb, thunder-god wannabe. Got it.”
Thunderbolt swung again, and Extreme ducked below the shot, before laying a series of jabs into the hero’s stomach.
Thunderbolt doubled over as the blows hit him, she was strong.
“Awww. Did you get a boo-boo?” She taunted, as her fists began raining down on him, as he raised his hands to block.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Thunderbolt smiled.
<><><>
“Man, he is getting pummelled.” Hyper Girl said, as she blasted a falling brick into dust, which rained down upon the fleeing family.
“He can take it, at least until we get everyone to safety.” Talon said, as she herded the civilians down the street.
“Here’s two more.” The Gibbon said, as he dropped a couple softly down onto the sidewalk. “Gene’s clearing out the bottom floors where the fire is, I’m helping out upstairs. Care to join?”
Hyper Girl nodded, and flew towards the building, as Talon continued to herd the running crowd of people.
“Oh wow, he’s really getting pummelled.” The Gibbon said.
“Quiet.” Talon ordered, as she began to formulate a plan.
<><><>
Thunderbolt took everything Extreme threw at him, her physical blows, her waves of scorching heat and blistering cold. He never faltered, just continued to take the punishment. He knew his team-mates would help him; he just had to face her while they saved the innocents.
He began his own assault, swinging Mjolnir around and clipping her leg, sending her tumbling and shattering her femur.
“So you’re not as slow as I thought?” Extreme asked, as the twisted wreckage of her leg began reforming itself.
“I have my moments.” Thunderbolt replied, as he charged forward. But Extreme was already back on her feet, ducking below the hero and throwing him from underneath, sending him reeling.
She was ready to make another attack, but found herself on the receiving end of a Hyper Blast.
“Not so fast skank.” Hyper Girl said, as she began launching a volley of blasts.
“I don’t have time for little girls.” Extreme shouted, allowing each shot to hit her, before returning fire. Hyper Girl’s photon shield barely held up against the beams of pure heat.
“Even one who’s going to kick your ass?” Hyper Girl asked, as she blasted at her opponent some more.
Nymphette got in on the action, dousing Extreme with water, but the villainess ignored the firehose-powered blasts, instead focussing on Hyper Girl.
She was so focussed; she didn’t notice The Freak barrelling down on her, or The Gibbon ducking behind her. The Freak tackled Extreme, sending her tripping over The Gibbon’s back and crashing into a puddle of water.
The Freak was on his feet first, grabbing The Gibbon and tossing him towards a building.
“NOW!” Talon ordered.
Thunderbolt smiled, as a bolt of electricity arced across the sky, striking the drenched Extreme square in the chest, knocking her out and burning her body immensely.
“Well, I’d certainly call that a win.” Hyper Girl noted.
“Are you kidding? We just took down Extreme!” The Gibbon shouted.
<><><>
“Are you kidding? I’m going to have to get my nails redone before my shoot tomorrow!” Nymphette complained, as she helped Hyper Girl lift a jagged piece of a broken wooden beam.
“Suck it up Princess.” Hyper Girl said. “Thunderbolt’s only with us on the provision that we help him help regular people.”
“But still, this is like, manual labour.” Nymphette said. “I’m too pretty to do manual labour.”
“Quiet.” Talon ordered, as she hefted the other half of the broken beam. “We’re going to help clean up this town, Thunderbolt said the tornado he stopped was one of the biggest he’s seen. They need our help here.”
“Besides, I have a special mission for you next week.” Thunderbolt said. “There’s a village in Namibia where I promised to break a drought, but even I can’t mess with the weather patterns like that, I’m going to need a hand.”
“Like, in Africa? Eww!” Nymphette squealed.
“Doesn’t Angelina do a lot of missionary work in Africa?” Hyper Girl asked.
“Oh yeah. Hey, maybe it’s not such a bad idea.” Nymphette said.
“I thought you’d see it my way.” Thunderbolt laughed.
Thursday, 10.23PM
Eastside, Long Beach
I could feel the guy’s collarbone cracking, as I thrust my palm directly into his chest. He let out a cry as I followed it up with a chop across the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious.
I bound his hands together with some cable ties I’d found behind the restaurant, didn’t want him to be a problem if he woke up.
I dragged him back towards the red El Camino his accomplice had arrived in, and tossed him in the back. His accomplice stirred a little when he landed on top of him, but he didn’t wake up. Good, I wasn’t ready for it yet.
I headed back to my latest victim’s car, a black Ford of some description, and pop the trunk.
Jackpot. Two big bags of what I can only assume was cocaine. At least twenty pounds each. There was no way he got these past customs without someone on the inside.
I close the trunk, and head back to the El Camino. I was lucky to have this lead. A dealer had spilled last week that this was where the drug mules met the distributors. The drugs came up from Mexico, reached this restaurant car park, where the mules dropped them off, got their cash, and went home. That was all the guy was willing to tell me, he said he only knew because he was the mule some weeks. I dropped him off outside a police station, not sure what happened after that, but I couldn’t have him telling anyone he snitched.
He also told me about the guy in the El Camino, which made my job a lot easier. I got the drop on him pretty quickly, just calmly reached into his car, pulled him out, and shut the door on his head a few times. I tied him up and tossed him in the back. It was dark enough that nobody would see him laying there.
But I needed him awake, so I started slapping him. He came to pretty quickly, but he was already stirring, so that wasn’t surprising. He tried to cry out, but a stiff backhand put a stop to that.
It didn’t take long for him to spill, he told me that his boss had paid off one of the customs guards, one Greg Atkins. He also told me the address of the place he took the drugs, over in West Torrance, and also where the mules obtained them. All in all, it was a productive night.
And it wasn’t over yet. Somehow I’d missed the sound of the approaching car. I was too busy listening to what the guy had to say. It wasn’t until the lights flashed that I noticed the black Chrysler pulling up behind me.
I was on my feet, with my guns out, pointed at the driver’s seat within seconds. The door opened slowly, the driver had his hands up, they were empty. He stood up, and it became clear to me that it was Officer O’Hara.
He told me that he’d been promoted to Detective, and that he’d been tracking these guys for weeks. I told him what they’d told me, the name of the customs guy, the source of the drugs, and where they were going. He thanked me, before handing me a business card. In case I needed to contact him, for anything. I thanked him, and told him to give me a head start before he called in guys to the place in West Torrance. He told me he wouldn’t get a warrant for days anyway, and to be careful. Like I need to be careful.
Thursday, 11.51 PM
West Torrance
I scoped out the house. No lights on inside, but that didn’t mean a thing. There was still movement in the windows. They must be have been getting edgy by then. Their delivery hadn’t arrived.
I counted at least five guys inside; it was hard to tell with all the shadows. Maybe more. I ducked behind a neighbour’s fence and used it to hide my approach. I reached the backyard and climbed over, landing softly on the ground. No movement inside, they didn’t see me. Good. Makes my job a lot easier.
I crouched low and ran towards the house, using the darkness to my advantage.
I stopped dead when I saw the porch light. Motion sensor mounted. Lucky for me, it was a cheap one with a short range. Unlucky for me, it was at that point that the guards decided it was time for a cigarette break and stepped out onto the back porch, triggering the light.
I stared at the two big men, and they stared right back in disbelief. They dropped their cigarettes, and I stood up, no point crouching now. We stared at each other in silence for a few seconds longer, before one of the guards shouted.
The two on the porch charged me straight away, I managed to duck under the first one, but the second caught me with a wild blow. I actually felt my cheekbone crack, and my teeth loosen.
Dazed momentarily by the blow, I was a sitting duck, as the first guy lifted me up over his head and tossed me all the way to the house, at least ten yards away. It was around that time that I decided these weren’t ordinary guards. They had to be Rock Steady Inc., otherwise there was no way they could do that much damage, or throw me that far. That was a game-changer.
I pulled my guns and opened fire, unloading a full magazine into each of the men’s abdomens, but they just laughed. I heard something behind me, and just managed to commando-roll to the side, as two more Rock Steady guys stepped onto the porch and opened fire at me. The bullets rained down, from an automatic of some kind, I hazarded a look over my shoulder and saw they both held submachine guns, probably Uzis, but I couldn’t tell from there.
I ducked around the side of the house, changing out my magazines, before crouching behind an air-conditioning unit. As I waited for my adversaries to come around the corner, I began formulating a plan.
The first appeared in plain sight, and I sprang into action. A little fancy shooting and I had hit him in a weak point, his ankles. Still, it took two shots to each ankle to drop him, and now I didn’t have a clear shot at whoever followed him. The second guy got what was left in my guns, and as luck would have it, he was one of the guys I had already shot. The combined blood loss was enough to drop him too.
I only had a few seconds; I darted forward and snatched up both of the fallen men’s guns. I charged around the corner and opened fire on their buddies, who were on their way over to deal with me. But they had brought friends. Turns out I had misjudged the number of people inside, because there were six guys all pointing their guns at me.
I charged across the yard, unloading a clip into the nearest Rock Steady guy, and followed it up with a clip to the guy next to him. They both dropped. I dove for them, somersaulted between them as I grabbed their guns, and dropped the next two, as I took a shot in my leg and another in my shoulder.
I dropped the Uzis and charged forward to meet the next thug. I leaped at him, taking him high in the chest. He staggered back from the shock of the attack, and tripped up the porch step. I rolled through, as my shoulder knitted itself back together, and kipped up to my feet. A few well placed boots to the temple, and it was down to me and the final guard.
Unluckily for me, he had a clear shot, and I now have a clear knowledge of exactly what it feels like to take eight shots to the chest and abdomen.
Friday, 5.12 AM
I came to inside the house. Inside what appeared to be a garbage bag. Because I love waking up in the trash.
I overheard two guys yelling about the missing shipment, about how I must have had something to do with it. Apparently I was a big problem for them, a guy on the next block had called the cops, who had started patrolling the streets and asking questions. The houses on either side were apparently abandoned, and the owners of the house behind were on vacation, so there were no witnesses.
One of the voices, the guy who hired the guards from the sound of it, kept worrying about what Mr Mitchell was going to do to him. The entire operation was in jeopardy, and as soon as Mr Mitchell found out, he was going to be dead. The other voice, the one remaining guard, I assumed, told him that little Deano was the least of his worries, if his boss came after him, for getting seven of his men put in hospital, then he would be worse than dead.
It was at that point that I put two-and-two together. Mr Mitchell. Little Deano. Dean Mitchell. Youngest son of Franklin Mitchell, the billionaire developer. That was who was in charge of the drug trade in this city. That was who was to blame.
I had to make a break for it, and I did, bursting free of the garbage bag and charging through the nearest window into the night, leaving my captors agape.
I sprinted into the night, my body racked with pain as it continued to heal the bullet wounds. I just kept running, and running. I had to get away.
I had to take Dean Mitchell down. Finally I had a name and a face to put on my crusade, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to punish him for what he’s done.
Is it sad that I’m a huge fan of my own characters? Not all of them, just a few. People I’ve created, I enjoy writing for, and I know that if someone else had invented them, I would read that too.
She started out as a basic idea. I was trying to flesh out the Silver Age in the <3-Verse, beyond the Golden-Age legacies, and created The Blackbird (mentioned in an old issue of Brat Pack, and again in Return of a Hero). Then I realised that I didn’t have any kid sidekicks anywhere in the <3-Verse. So I created this teenager that got saved by the Blackbird in the 80’s, who decided to follow in his footsteps. She created her own costume, and called herself The Magpie (because Australian magpies are black and white, and she was a white girl in a black costume, whereas the Blackbird was a black guy in a black costume). Blackbird didn’t want a sidekick, but she just wouldn’t relent, so he decided she’d be better off with his training than without it. She joined the Boomers, and basically grew up with the team. When she turned 20, she decided that being a sidekick was for kids, and changed her name to Talon. At 22, she moved to New York and formed the East Coast Boomers. 21 years later, and she’s still in the game, only taking two hiatuses, one could be considered maternity leave, and the other… Well, you know all about that now, don’t you?
Basically, she’s a badass. I like that. And a grown-up sidekick, which I really like the concept of (I’m a huge Winter Soldier fan 
). She sits up there with Mr Universe, Uncle Sam and The Shadow as my favourite <3-Verse characters that I’ve written for… So far. Stick around, because the next issue of <3C Presents will be the new Shadows Over LA (it was going to be this month’s, but I read my SOLA schedule wrong (the end of this arc needs to be at around a particular time, because it leads into some stuff with the Brats). Anyway, suffice to say, there will be a new issue of SOLA soon. Now, back to the assignment I was doing before I realised I hadn’t posted Author’s Notes yet. Hooray for procrastination!
Later Days
The Author
<3 Comics